The Reid Effect
by that1crazaychik
Summary: Much like the protective, maternal effect baby animals have on the human brain, the "Reid Effect" causes every member of the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit to want to protect their precious little genius (aka A Reid-centric series of one-shots where a different team member protects or saves or cares for Spencer in each one).
1. Jennifer

_**Jennifer**_

JJ hated whenever Reid suggested they split up. Ever since Tobias Hankel, she never wanted to let Reid out of her site while in the field, but unfortunately, she had no time to argue with him today. It was only when she heard the loud _thud_ and Reid's cry of pain that she knew she should have taken the time to argue. She ran into the room where she'd heard the noise with her gun drawn but stopped immediately in the doorway.

"Don't come any closer or I swear I'll shoot 'im!" the Unsub shouted, frantically.

Well, the profile had been correct: a Caucasian male who was above average in size and strength. Well… way above average. He was holding an unconscious Reid like a limp ragdoll, with a giant mitt wrapped around Reid's gun. The Unsub was pointing it straight at Reid's head.

JJ did a quick sweep of the room. Three exits: the front door to the Unsub's left, the doorway leading to the kitchen behind JJ and a staircase on the Unsub's right, going up. There was a crowbar lying at the Unsub's feet and judging by the blood slowly trickling down Reid's forehead, JJ guessed he had been incapacitated by a quick blow to the head. The Unsub probably came from the staircase and surprised Reid from behind.

_Oh, Spence…_ JJ thought, _Do you always have to get yourself into these situations?_

JJ tried a light step forward… they weren't there yet.

"I said don't move! I-I… I will shoot 'im." The man stammered, pulling Reid closer, backing them up against the wall. Reid's head lolled on his chest, completely unaware of the gun at his temple. The trembling gun… The man's hand was shaking out of control. He crept slowly towards the door on his left, hiding behind Reid like a human shield. He wasn't going to shoot Reid, that wasn't his MO. Still, JJ had to get Reid out of there.

"Okay…"JJ said soothingly, "I'm going to put my gun down, okay? And we're just going to talk."

She carefully set her gun on the floor in front of her and slowly raised her hands, not taking her eyes of Reid or the Unsub. He was still as tense as ever, and the gun in his hand was shaking way too much for JJ's comfort. She took a deep breath.

"What's your name?" she asked gently.

"Charles." The man said hesitantly.

"Listen to me, Charles…"JJ said, taking a small step forward. "I know you don't want to hurt anybody."

"But I will!" Charles said, panicked "I-If you come any closer, I'll hurt him. I swear I will."

JJ held back a pang of fear as the barrel of the gun was shoved against Reid's temple, causing his head to roll lifelessly on his chest. She couldn't let herself panic right now, for Reid's sake. She took a deep breath again, switching back into her FBI brain.

"No… I don't think you will," JJ said a little more sternly. "Because my friend hasn't done anything wrong. Jack Sumners, Eric Lapaul and Scott Braden on the other hand, well… they deserved it, didn't they?"

The gun lowered slightly from Reid's head at the mention of the Unsub's victims.

"They were liars… a-and cheaters! What they did to Cassie… my darling girl…" Charles explained, tears brimming in his eyes.

Again, the profile had been dead on. The string of murders were all tied to one young woman: Cassidy Barnes. And the BAU had deduced that the man they were looking for saw himself as Cassie's protector, and was possibly even her unknown father. The three victims had all been ex-boyfriends of Cassie's and all though the breakups were messy, they were not worth murder. Charles obviously thought differently.

"But you took care of them, right?" JJ continued, creeping forward again. "Cassie is safe now. So hurting my friend won't do anything, because he's never hurt anyone in his life."

Charles adjusted his grip on the gun. There were tears on his cheeks. JJ continued forward.

"Please… just let him go, and I'll let you see Cassie." She slowly stretched her hand out in front of her, palm open. She could see the struggle in Charles' eyes, the gun growing increasingly heavy in his hand.

Relief flooded through JJ as the cool metal of the pistol reached her hand. She quickly tucked it into her belt and eased Reid's limp body to the ground as the Charles loosened his hold on the young agent. She gently propped him up against the wall as the front door burst open.

"FBI. Hands up!" Agent Morgan yelled.

But she'd already tuned everything out. The Unsub was their priority now, Reid was hers. She quickly checked his pulse, then she scanned his head for the source of the blood flow and found the abrasion. She was about to inspect further when Reid's eyes began to flutter open.

"Spence? Spence, can you hear me?" She asked.

"JJ… wha..?" Reid managed. His hand began to wander up towards his head but JJ grabbed it before it could reach its target.

"Don't touch it…" She soothed, placing his hand down beside him and quickly grabbing his other hand from doing the same thing. "You were hit in the head with a crowbar… do you remember?"

Reid blinked hard and then opened his eyes, looking at JJ.

"Yeah… yeah, I think so…I was just about to check the… stairs…" Reid looked towards the stairwell, "I'm guessing they weren't clear."

JJ let a small laugh escape. She smiled down at Reid.

"No, Spence, they were not."

"Noted," Reid replied, he blinked hard again and looked back at JJ. "Did we get him?"

"Yes, Morgan's got him in cuffs. He's walking him to the car as we speak."

"You're lucky Pretty Boy." Derek's voice chimed in. He'd just walked through the door, as if on cue.

"Really?" Reid replied, "I wouldn't call getting whacked in the head by a crowbar lucky…"

"You better hope he didn't wreck that beautiful brain of yours," Derek retorted, crouching down next to the pair. "Think you can get up? Medics are on their way."

Reid nodded slightly.

"Yeah. Yeah… I think so…" he said and started to push himself up off the wall, both JJ and Derek hovering to help. Before he could get two inches off the ground, he groaned slightly and set himself back down, taking a deep breath.

"Do you know what? I think I'm just going to stay here." He said, obviously trying to make the world stop spinning.

"Good call," JJ replied.


	2. Alex

_**ALEX**_

Alex didn't mind hospitals. She'd spent so much time in them, that the sounds and smells were all very familiar, almost homey...

That couldn't be normal.

She sat in the chair by Spencer's bed, listening to the monotonous beeping of the hospital equipment. Garcia had stepped out to grab some coffee for the two of them and some food for Reid, for when he woke up. Technically he'd woken up twice already, but only for a few minutes. He'd barely spoken and didn't remember anything, his thoughts completely incoherent. Alex almost preferred when he was asleep… there was no confusion or panic in his eyes as he struggled to make sense of his drug muddled thoughts. He looked peaceful when he was asleep… like Ethan had been…

She was snapped back to reality when Spencer's eyes began to flutter open again.

"Spencer?" Alex leaned forward, putting a gentle hand on the young man's arm.

"Where am I?" Reid slurred, looking around the room with heavy eyes.

"You're in the hospital, Spencer. You were shot in the neck." This was at least the third time she'd told him this.

"I don't... I don't remember…" Reid's breathing began to quicken and he attempted to get up but Alex put a hand on his chest, lightly pushing him back down.

"It's alright Spencer, you're okay..."She soothed, "Just lie back and get some rest, everything is going to be okay."

Spencer's body relaxed and his eyes closed, physically unable to stay open any longer.

"Please don't leave me…" he pleaded weakly. Alex could feel her heart snapping in two. He reminded her so much of Ethan…

Biting back tears, Alex swept the wet mop of hair off of Spencer's forehead.

"I'm not going anywhere Spencer," She assured him. "I'm staying right here."

She continued to stroke his forehead soothingly with the back of her hand, like she'd done many times for Ethan, until Spencer finally relaxed into the pillow. He spoke once more before falling asleep again, and it almost tore Alex apart. It was barely audible but it rang through her mind like a bell:

"Thanks… Mom..."


	3. Emily

_**Emily**_

Spencer hadn't realized just how exhausted he was until he woke up on the break room couch of the local PD. Even then, it took him a few moments to register anything as a pounding ache exploded through his head. Eyes still closed, he brought his hand up to inspect where the pain was coming from and grimaced hard as his fingers probed the hot lump forming on the back of his head.

"Careful..." he heard a familiar voice say. Spencer opened his eyes to see Emily walking towards him, a blue gelled ice pack in hand.

"You alright?" She asked in a concerned tone, offering Spencer the ice pack. Spencer took it gratefully and held it to the back of his head, wincing at the applied pressure.

"Yeah..." Spencer replied, though he still wasn't quite sure what exactly happened. His memory was pretty foggy but the last thing he remembered was he was standing in front of the case board working on the geographical profile when...

"I fainted didn't I?" He asked pulling himself up to a sitting position. Emily grabbed his shoulders and helped him up.

"Yeah..." she replied softly, "and you hit your head pretty hard on the way down..."

"That's embarrassing..." Reid mumbled, scanning the room for any witnesses. Just what he needed... it was bad enough that local police officers never took him seriously because of his age, now he has to go faint in front of them.

Emily interrupted his thoughts.

"Spencer, when was the last time you ate something?"

His silence gave her the answer.

"When was the last time you slept?"

Again, all Spencer could give her was silence.

"Jesus, Reid..." Emily shook her head, "You have to take care of yourself. Your health should come before anything else-"

"No, it shouldn't." Reid interrupted. Emily stared at him in shock. Spencer swallowed hard, the look in Emily's eyes demanding an explanation.

"I mean, we've still got an Unsub out there, which means potential victims. They are in much more danger than I am, shouldn't their health and safety be a priority over mine?"

Emily sighed heavily.

"I mean... yes, Spencer, you're right in a sense... They are the priority." Emily started, "But... you're no good to them if you work yourself into the ground."

Reid stared guiltily at his feet. Emily put a hand on his knee, shifting his attention back to her.

"Hey…" she said softly, "Listen, I know I can never really understand what's going on in that genius brain of yours but whatever it is, you know you can talk to me right?"

Reid smiled slightly and gave her a nod.

"I know." He said quietly. Emily leaned back.

"Good." She said.

Before she could say anything else she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket.

"It's Hotch." She said, looking at the caller I.D.

"He's probably looking for his geographical profile," Reid said, starting to push himself off the couch.

"Nunh-unh." Emily said, lightly pushing him back down, "You stay here and get some sleep... I'll take care of it. I do not want to see you off this couch for at least an hour, do you understand me?"

Reid smiled in surrender.

"Yes, ma'am." He said jokingly, lying back down on the couch.

* * *

"Where's Reid?" Hotch asked once the rest of the team had assembled back at the precinct. Emily took a deep breath.

"He's in the break room... sleeping," she explained. Hotch's raised eyebrow indicated she needed to explain further. "He passed-out earlier; hit his head pretty hard... I told him to get some rest."

"Understandable." Hotch said, "Is he alright?"

"Yeah, he'll be fine," Emily answered.

"Good." Hotch nodded and turned his attention back to the profile. "So we'll be short one man, let's get into it."


End file.
